In a bid to bring costs under control, sinking smartphone maker BlackBerry could fire up to 40 percent of its staff, equating to 5,000 people.

After experiencing heavy losses from its failed PlayBook tablet and a fading popularity in the smartphone market, BlackBerry put itself up for sale in August, but is still to lure any major buyer.

The Canadian company's spokesperson refused to comment on the issue and said that the company is in the second phase of its transformation plan adding that the organisational moves will continue to occur to ensure they have the right people in the right roles to drive new opportunities in mobile computing, the Guardian reports.

According to the report, earlier this month, the company fired a number of sales staff in Canada, while the sales of the new Z10 and Q10 handsets have been slow.

BlackBerry recently unveiled its latest range of Z30 smartphones, touted to be the biggest, fastest and most advanced smartphone by the company.